What is conscious music?

By Anisah Muhammad | Last updated: Aug 8, 2014 - 5:28:36 PM

It is important in this day and time that we open up our ears and minds to conscious music. Many of us, are constantly fed lyrics about smoking, drinking, lusting after women and gang violence. But the song lyrics that we, especially young people listen to, are being pushed in a direction that leads to our demise. The problem is, we sing along to these lyrics, but we don’t pay attention to what they’re saying. We’re too caught up in the beat to get the meaning behind the rhythm.

I’m sure rap and hip hop artists such as Lil Wayne and Chris Brown don’t intend to lead the masses of the people that listen to their lyrics in the wrong direction. Black rap and hip hop artists sing and rap to what they relate to and their experiences.

When a person makes a song about how they “feel like dying,” then, in my eyes, that’s a cry for help, an expression of the pain of being a Black man or woman in the hell that was created by our open enemy, the White man. Our artists may not mean to feed their listeners lyrics that cause self-destruction, but that’s what they’re doing. That’s what unconscious music does. It can lead a person to a path of self-destruction.

We need to listen to conscious music. What is conscious music? The word “conscious,” according to dictionary.com, means to “be aware of one’s own existence, sensations, thoughts, or surroundings.” So, conscious music must be that which enlightens one about the world around them. It must be music that causes one to be aware of what’s going on and causes one to really think. Conscious music is music with a positive, informational message behind it.

Conscious music aims to uplift listeners. Conscious music elevates the spirit. Unconscious music can often do the opposite. It may depress or discourage the spirit. Musical artists are an important aspect in the rise or fall of a nation. Right now, many of them are used, although unwittingly, to suppress the rise of Black people. But, music, today, is coming into the fulfillment of time, and more music artists are using the influence they have to change the condition of the masses of the people by the way they dress and sing.

Artists such as Jasiri X, K-Rino, Akilah Nehanda, Problem 13, Jay Electronica, Janelle Monae, and India Arie are elevating the minds of their listeners through their lyrics. There are many others in and outside of the Nation of Islam who are using their music to uplift people. Let us open our ears and minds to the messages they are giving us. Don’t just bob your head to the beat. Pay attention to the lyrics and message. Let’s spread conscious music whenever we can, because it’ll aid in our rise. Let us no longer be “destroyed from a lack of knowledge,” as the scriptures describe us.

In reference to Akilah Nehanda’s new song “We Out Here,” music has indeed entered a brighter day.

(Anisah Muhammad is a 16 year old writer based in Montgomery, Ala. To read more of what she writes, visit [email protected].)

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